Dry Well
by Janika
Summary: XANA has not given up with the Pawns. He still has some tricks up his sleeve and this time he’ll make sure his new creation has very specific orders to keep her from wandering off course. But was he too specific? 9th episode
1. Hooky

**_Post-production note: I know many of my ideas have been refuted by the show, but that's b/c I wrote it before those ideas came to fruition._**

**9-1: Hooky**

**For the summary: X.A.N.A.'s new plan to use Pawns has failed thus far, but he is too stubborn and persistent to surrender. Not to mention that Aelita has decided to ditch her friends for the circus (nah, close enough) and that a new Pawn will very soon be on her heels.**

(((-1-)))

Faces leered down at Aelita from all angles. Some wore cruel expressions while others smirked or feigned indifference. She shuddered at their grotesque forms and twisted bodies. A feeling of oppression stifled the room.

"You don't like them, do you?" someone behind her asked.

The pink-haired girl shook her head. "Not a single one. They're all so…_malicious_. What do you think about them, Talia?"

Her classmate shrugged uncomfortably. "The same. I think this section of the Hall of Gods needs to be junked. The good gods back there weren't so bad," she said motioning to the beginning of the hallway where statues of kinder gods than these were displayed. "I'd rather be just about anywhere other than a museum, though."

Aelita disagreed. The museum was interesting. She'd never imagined that human history was so complex or multifaceted. There appeared to be hundreds of thousands of different cultures constantly changing and making imprints on the world. The museum merely painted a few of them, though some were not very soothing images.

One of the terrible gods had dark stains all over him and the description said that they were from many thousands of animal and human sacrifices paid as tribute to it by an African tribe centuries ago. She shuddered again.

"Hey! Aelita, do you want to skip school?"

She paused. "Why would a school want to skip?"

Talia stared blankly at her for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter. "No, no! I meant cut class."

"What would be the purpose of cutting a class up?"

The other girl had to lean against something to keep from doubling over in gales of helpless mirth. "See? This is why I like you, Aelita. You take things so literally and you act so naïve! What I _really _meant was let's get out of here and go have some fun."

She looked quizzically at Talia. "Isn't that against the rules?"

"Tell me where it's written that we can't and I'll forget the whole deal. I promise," she said mock-sincerely.

"Well…I didn't see it in the Student Handbook," the materialized girl responded uncertainly.

"Then let's blow this joint and get going before anyone notices! See, they're all down at the other end of the hall."

"Wait, let me get Jerem—"

"No! This is something for us girls."

"Well, then I'll get Yumi or Janik—"

"Even worse! Those two have _boyfriends_. They're bound to want to drag those dweebs along too and then we'll all get caught. It's easier with just two of us, and ten times more fun. Now are we gonna get going or stand here all day?"

"Can I at least tell them where I am?"

"What? No way! This is most of the fun! No one knows where we are so we can go anywhere we want without getting interrupted. Now come on before someone sees us dawdling back here."

The two girls who looked remarkably like each other walked quickly through the museum, pausing every so often beside pictures and statuettes to blend into the crowd. Eventually they made it out the exit and Talia dragged her friend onto a bus.

They paid the fare and stood in the aisle, hanging onto poles to keep from falling on their faces as the bus jerked forward. There was a map at the front that outlined the path they were taking. Aelita's eyes lit up as she saw that the zoo was on the bus's route.

"Let's go there, Talia! Jeremy always promised to show me the zoo, but we've never gotten the chance."

"Don't they have zoos in Japan?"

"I've never been to one. I lived in a very isolated area." Not technically a lie. Aelita hated twisting the truth even though her friends had already told her it was all right. Dishonesty was a foreign concept to her and even when it was necessary, she hated to stoop to that level.

"I haven't gotten a chance to see the one here either. Well, I guess we'll be going to the zoo, then." Talia grinned at her friend.

(V)

X.A.N.A. sneered as he considered the number of remaining towers the A.I. had left to look over before discovering the one that contained the altered link from Lyoko to Earth. There was not much time left. He was hard-pressed to keep the program stable enough to be undetected by the mainframe computer.

He had to double—no, _triple!_—his efforts. The A.I. was the key. If he could rid himself of her, then triumph would be his. The Warriors could not hope to fight him without her support. Unless the one faceless Warrior who had never entered Lyoko's apposite expanse managed to take her place.

It was a remote possibility, but still a probable one that the Warriors might think of. He would have to destroy them both. If he was not mistaken, they had formed an attachment already, so it would not be that difficult to annihilate them since they were most likely near each other.

X.A.N.A. crafted his next Pawn carefully. Her instructions were clear and concise. There would be no mistakes this time or he would kill his creation himself.

(V)

Janika grimaced at a snarling creature with a lion-like head. It looked more comical than intimidating. And the artist who fashioned it obviously had bad taste.

"Hey Aelita, what do you think of thi—Aelita?" She straightened and looked around. Her friend was nowhere to be seen. "Odd! Where did Aelita go? I told her to stay right with me."

The spike-haired boy shrugged. "Last time I saw her she was with Ulrich and Yumi. Where are they?"

They weren't far, standing very close to each other in front of a statue with hawk wings and a bear's body. "It looks like something a kid might draw in kindergarten," Yumi chuckled.

"Show me a kindergartener who can draw something like this and I'll give you tickets to the play at the stadium." There was a twinkle in his eye. "But even if you don't, I've still got them. How do you like 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?"

Yumi stared at him in disbelief. "Are you serious!"

Just about that time, Janika and Odd came up. "Where's Aelita?"

"Aelita? I thought she was with you," Ulrich said through clenched teeth, jerking his head toward the main class in an attempt to get them to go away.

"No. And Jeremy's standing over there by himself. I don't think he's noticed she's missing yet."

"Why don't you go tell him?"

"_You _go tell him!" Janika retorted. "Idon't want to get my head bitten off by an overprotective boyfriend."

He stepped close so he could whisper to them without Yumi overhearing, "If you don't leave right now, _I'm _going to bite _both_ your heads off. Do I make myself clear?"

"Touchy, touchy," Janika muttered as they walked away.

Jeremy smiled as they approached him. "Did you guys know that Nigerian gods were so brutal and bloodthirsty? Some of them actually demanded newborn babies to be sacrificed for their glory."

Janika wrinkled her nose in revulsion. "Sick. I can't believe people fell for that one." Odd nudged her and she rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Um…Jeremy? We have a little problem. Aelita's…well, she just kinda…we were over there and…you see, the thing is that she was supposed to—"

"She's missing, dude," Odd finally supplied. "And we have absolutely no idea where she is."

Jeremy stared at them slack-jawed for an infinite moment that was suddenly interrupted by a strange beeping from his backpack. Startled out of his panic-induced carbonation, the blonde kid pulled out the mini-computer than he and Aelita had rigged up. "Shoot! Something's happening on Lyoko. I'll have to plug this directly into a phone line figure out exactly what, but it looks like X.A.N.A.'s making his move now."

"No problem. Let's just call Aelita and have her meet us at the factory," Janika suggested.

The two boys looked at her and Odd cleared his throat. "Erm…she doesn't exactly have a cell phone, so we really have no way of contacting her."

**I'll just have to leave it like this for now. I hope you guys like it since it's a little longer than usual and it actually started in a place other than the school. As for the poll, just tell me what you would do if someone with glowing blue eyes started controlling water and came after you.**


	2. Zoo Loo

**9-2: Zoo-Loo**

**Been a while, I know. Just got back from my wonderful trip to New Mexico and Colorado and now I'm back home in Texas. Whoopee! Back to work. And now for belated replies:  
**

(((-2-)))

Jeremy had his hands around Odd's throat and was squeezing tightly. Mrs. Hertz happened to look over and clucked shamefully.

"Jeremy Belpois, stop monkeying about and pay attention," she ordered sternly.

The blonde boy loosened his grip but Janika had to pry his fingers away from his victim's neck. As she heard the teacher, her face contorted into a look of severe distaste. "That drives me crazy, you know? It's 'monkeying around' not 'about'. Why don't people ever get that straight?"

"We are _not_ here to discuss your pet peeves, Janika," Jeremy snapped sourly. He had finally managed to calm down enough to speak in complete sentences. "Why exactly does Aelita not have a phone? _Everyone_ has a freaking phone!"

"**_I _**don't have a phone."

"Shut up, Janika. I wasn't talking about you and _you _were supposed to be keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't get lost. And did you? _No!_ Now my gir—our very inexperienced friend is missing and it's all your fault!"

Odd rubbed his neck and managed to croak, "We don't know that she's lost, Jeremy. She could have just wandered down another corridor or something. Besides, we never got her a phone because we always assumed she'd be with one of us all the time."

"If you really want to know who ran off with your little friend," a very aggravating, whiny voice spoke up, "you may want to ask someone who saw them. In this case…me."

"Sissy, are you serious or are you just joking with me? Because right now I am not in the best of moods to put up with any of your usual bull," the blonde genius growled in a very dangerous voice.

She ignored the warning sins, however, and flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture. "I think I might be able to help you guys…_if_ you do something for me. A favor for a favor."

Both Odd and Janika had to grab their friend to keep him from throttling the annoying brat. "Believe me, cuz, we're not joking and this is an emergency. Aelita needs her—uh—medication. She has diabetes."

"Uh huh" she said, unconvinced. "Tell me a story I'll believe and I'll think about giving info to you free. I'm sure we can work out an arrangement." Sissy rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Say…break up my little boy-toy and that hussy."

The dark-haired girl turned her back on her cousin to speak with the two boys. "It really is doubtful she was kidnapped. Someone must have convinced her to leave."

Sissy realized she was losing her grip on the crowd. "Okay, okay. Let's talk numbers, then. Something more along the lines of 30 bucks."

They pretended not to hear her. Odd agreed with his friend saying, "Yeah, and obviously they were bored, which means they either left our group or the whole museum."

"How about 20?"

"It really depends on who it was that convinced her to skip class."

"I'll drop it down to 10, but that's as low as I go," Sissy inserted crossly.

"There were twelve students in our group. Who's missing besides Aelita?"

"I'll tell you but only if you give me five dollars!"

Jeremy surveyed the kids and nearly shouted, "Talia! She and Aelita have been hanging out together recently. From what I know about her, I'm pretty sure she would leave the museum and go traipsing around town."

"But where would they actually _go?_"

"We won't find out until we start looking. But first things first: I need to figure out exactly what X.A.N.A. has planned. It could be another routine attack or something worse like blowing up gas pipes and setting them on fire. Let's grab the lovebirds and get out of here."

Sissy looked confused. "What are you guys babbling about? A routine_ **attack?**_ What in the world—wait! Where are you going? You still owe me two dollars!"

(V)

"Isn't that against the rules?" Aelita wondered.

"If it was, would I be doing it? And why would they have such an obvious way in if it was illegal?" the reddish-haired girl argued.

"I don't know. I don't think it's exactly _obvious_. Aren't we supposed to pay somewhere?"

"You only have to pay if you take the wussy-way through the front gate. The ones who find the subtle ways to get in don't. It's sort of a reward for our ingenuity."

"I didn't see a sign anywhere about a rewa—"

"_Now _you're trying to be technical. It's a given. Can you give me a boost up onto this dumpster or not?"

The wall of the zoo was about four feet above a pair of dumpsters in an alleyway. Aelita finally sighed and helped her friend up on top. Talia reached down to drag her up and then they both set to climbing the wall.

Aelita peeked over first. "Maybe we should go a different way. I think this is a pen."

"Oh, don't be a big baby. I doubt those tigers eat people. Let's just pretend like we're supposed to be here. Follow my lead."

She slipped over and walked along a suspended metal ramp that appeared to be used for droppng food down to the striped felines. Several people were ogling the cats, but only one teenage boy with pale hair and eyes of the deepest blue noticed the girls slip over the wall, saunter purposely along the outer rim of the cage, casually hop over a gate, and finally mingle with the crowd.

"Wish I'd thought of that," Dan muttered bitterly, remembering the ten dollars he had spent to get in. "Hmmm… Those sisters are kinda cute. I wonder where they're going."

Making sure his annoying little cousins were busy with their mother, he swiftly took off after the pair, his curiosity aroused. Relatives were a pain sometimes. If they needed him he always had his cell phone.

Aelita caught sight of the aquarious part of the zoo and ran inside. Talia followed with a little laugh. It was funny seeing her friend excited about things. "What's so interesting in here?"

She entered the tunnel-like opening and walked down a hallway into a darkened area full of dimly lit aquariums. "Jeremy told me about fish, all the colors and types and sizes. They're so amazing and I've never seen any," she said tapping the glass.

The other girl stared disbelievingly at her. "You've lived on a Japanese island your entire life and you have never, _ever _seen a fish. For some reason I see something wrong with this picture."

She thought fast. "I meant exotic fish. Of _course _I've seen fish before."

Talia shrugged and let the subject drop. Behind them Dan, however, knew better than to believe a makeshift response like that. So they weren't sisters. And the one girl didn't look Japanese; not even an accent in her voice. She pronounced her L's perfectly.

Light music played from speakers in the corners of the room. The materialized girl recognized it from Yumi's home and hummed happily along, remembering the cat back at her foster home and how it would "dance" whenever Yumi played her CDs.

She stopped humming suddenly as she caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye. As she turned, the cat almost melted away into the darkness. After a moment she returned her attention to the zoo's attractions.

They passed under a security camera as they viewed the aquariums. Aelita exclaimed over every flit of motion and twinkling of color. One animal in particular caught her eye.

"That red one looks almost like a Krab," she whispered. Clouds of memory obscured her vision as she recalled…

"It _is _a crab, silly!" Talia guffawed. "You just keep on surprising me, Aelita. What's with you, anyway? It's like—" She cut off as the security camera sparked suddenly and began to smoke. "Great Paul's bunion! What the heck is goin—urgh!"

She coughed and gurgled as the smoke poured down and surrounded her straight away. Her swinging fist clipped Aelita's chin and the girl with strawberry-colored hair fell back against the glass of one display.

People rushed around, trying to get away or figure out what had just happened. When the fallen girl managed to get back to her feet, there was an eerie blue light emanating from Talia's eyes.

"Pawn Krelle activated. Terminate Subjects A and B immediately," came almost a mechanized voice from Talia's throat. Her glowing gaze focused on Aelita.

**Well, I guess I'd better leave you guys w/ a nice little cliffy. Tell me: if you were a dog, what kind would you be and why? (I get the feeling Odd's choice would be something that looked like Kiwi)**


	3. Surf's Up

**9-3: Surf's Up  
****Thanks to Kayrana's plaintive request, I decided to get stressed out writing this chapter today so that I could post it before she left on her trip, so this chappie is also dedicated to her. Hope you like it and have a great vacation!**

(((-3-)))

Aelita stood frozen by the Pawn's stare. She had to do something, but what! There was no one left in the dim room. Everyone had fled in fear when Krelle stood up with her eyes radiating a sickening blue color. She was alone.

The enemy appeared puzzled and opened her mouth. "Subject A present; subject B missing. Error—error—error!" Krelle appeared to twitch and spasm uncontrollably. Eyes glowing with a troubled misty light, the Pawn cast wildly about until she encountered her element.

Seizing it in her mental grasp, she tried using it to balance the miscalculation that prevented her from carrying out her Master's command. Something blocked it from the dry area they stood in. Something hard, but liquid as well. She exerted more strength.

Cracks crept up the length of the glass, splintering and streaking along. Aelita saw the running lines and gasped. "Stop it, Krelle! You don't have to obey X.A.N.A.! Don't break the glass, please!"

Suddenly behind her, Dan brought both hands together down on Krelle's head and she dropped like a stone at the same time that the glass all around them broke.

Torrents of water, now freed, surged out through the openings carrying fish, crabs, manta rays, and small sharks along. Aelita cried out, not knowing how to swim.

Dan's hand grasped her arm and held on as they were swept along with the raging waters toward the exit. Sunlight blinded the materialized girl for a few moments, but her rescuer hauled her instantly to her feet and raced through the crowd in an attempt to get away.

"And I thought I was going to be bored today," he chuckled.

(V)

X.A.N.A. angrily surveyed the wretch he had created. Pitiful. Her orders kept her from attacking the A.I. directly unless the other was with her as well. The program could not be rewritten at this stage, but he could modify it enough to make her useful again. Partly, anyway.

"_Rise from your madness,"_ came his command. _"Pursue the enemies and those who protect them. Destroy all who oppose my will, slave."_

(V)

Ulrich hurried out of the museum entrance, hoping they had lost Mrs. Hertz. She had caught them sneaking off and they'd made a break for it, splitting up with the promise of meeting each other outside.

He saw Yumi wave to him from across the street beside a café with a band playing within and ran to join her. Jeremy and Odd were already there, Odd ravenously eyeing the food so close. They were just getting worried about their last friend when Janika came barreling out of the museum entrance, bumping and jostling other people as she went. Behind her came two security guards shouting her name and telling her to get back inside with her class.

But even as the four kids watched with growing alarm, she melted into the crowd in the square and vanished. Janika reappeared right beside them and watched the men fruitlessly search for her face among the crowd before finally returning to the museum.

Now that the coast was clear, Jeremy slid into the café to look for a phone he could use for his computer while the others tried to think of places Aelita and Talia would go. They were having little luck.

"We can't do anything at all on Lyoko until we find her," Yumi stated.

"But how long until X.A.N.A.'s attack becomes obvious?"

Suddenly the computer genius came charging through the door of the café and nearly bowled over his friends. "I couldn't lock onto any Towers. X.A.N.A. activated a new Pawn and I'm pretty sure I know who he'd pick for this one."

"Naomi?"

"Amanda?"

"Veronica?"

"No! Aelita is alone with Talia. Why not go after her when we can't protect her? It's the perfect opportunity for him to get rid of her without us interfering." He gripped Ulrich's collar. "We have to find her _now!_"

The dark-haired boy peeled his friend's hands off his shirt, nodding. "That's clear, Jeremy, but how on earth are we going to find her? The only places we can think of where she might go are the Eiffel Tower **(A/N: I hope they live in Paris) **and maybe the Market Square, but both of them are so crowded that we'll never be able to find her."

Janika tapped her chin. "Where else would we go if we were tourists?"

"Churches?" Odd put forward.

"She doesn't know anything about religion, Odd," Yumi reprimanded.

"Well, what about pet shops? She likes animals, right?"

Jeremy bit his lip. "Animals… Aelita might have gone to the zoo. She was bugging me about that a couple days ago. But she also pestered me about the Eiffel Tower. I guess I'll go there. Odd, you can come with me. We'll cover more ground in pairs."

"I'll go to the Market Square by myself," Ulrich volunteered. "I'll have three pairs of eyes that'll make it easier to spot her."

"I guess that means Yumi and Janika will take the zoo. Do we _have _to pay to get into the Eiffel Tower, Einstein?"

The other blonde boy rolled his eyes. "Quit whining, Odd. If we don't save Aelita, who cares about a few measly bucks while X.A.N.A. takes vengeance on us? On the other hand, if we do find her and get to Lyoko, we'll go back in time anyway and you'll get it back. You never think fourth-dimensionally."

"Well, _excuuuuse_ me! I'm just your average teenager who isn't as much of a braniac as you!"

"Can it. The new Pawn could be breathing down Aelita's neck by now and you're complaining about being unintelligent. Split up."

As they separated, Odd ground his teeth together loud enough to be heard over the traffic in the street and the band in the café.

(V)

Dan dragged Aelita along, ducking and weaving through the crowds that had gathered outside the aquarium to witness the strange spectacle. Zoo employees were running pell-mell everywhere trying to save the fish, but luckily the two sopping wet kids were ignored.

"I know I'm going to regret asking," Dan said after introducing himself, "but is there a reason your friend just tried to kill you?"

"Um…she's evil?" she suggested.

"Nice try," the blue-eyed boy said sarcastically.

"Fine! She's the powerful minion of a computer virus named X.A.N.A. and she won't stop until she's destroyed me because I'm the only one that can unleash his hold on Earth's reality!"

He halted so suddenly that she careened into him. "I think I liked the first one better."

"I need to contact my friends. They…oh no." With a sinking heart, Aelita realized she didn't know any of her friends' phone numbers. She had absolutely no way to reach them and wasn't even sure which museum she had come from, making it impossible to backtrack.

She was lost, and a Pawn was hot on her trail!

(V)

Janika parted with her ten dollars reluctantly and then grabbed a map. "There are a gazillion places she could be," she grumbled to Yumi. The older girl took it from her.

"You take the left path, I'll take the right. We'll meet up in fifteen minutes at this misting patio."

"What's a misting patio?"

"I don't know what the real name is! It's one of those things that lightly sprays water on people so they keep cool on hot days."

"Okay. Well, what if while we're searching for her she leaves?"

"Quit pestering me. Just get going and hope that we find her before the Pawn."

"All right. So I go left." Janika started off.

"Your _other _left," Yumi corrected.

She halted. "I knew that. Just got turned around, that's all." As she began walking the right direction, she looked down at the map and realized she would be passing the aquarium. "Cool! The dolphins are near there too. I wonder if there's a show going on now."

The girl with a dark brown braid turned the corner and saw several squads of zoo workers trying desperately to clean up a disaster. Belatedly, she wished she had asked Yumi to lend her a cell phone.

As she was debating what to do, she saw Aelita stride out of the exit, passing panicking workers carelessly and walking farther into the zoo. With a cheerful cry, she jogged toward her friend.

Janika had almost reached her when she came up short. Something about this girl wasn't right. _Sheesh! Why do Aelita and Talia have to look so alike!_ she rhetorically demanded of herself. At least Jeremy's idea seemed to be accurate. She wasn't acting like herself, which meant she was the enemy.

But where was Aelita?

She heard someone singing a strange song nearby and the dark-haired girl happened to look up at that moment to see a huge creature form out of thin air! It hovered high over the zoo, appearing to be a cross between a dragon and a black bird.

"Aelita…is that you?" she wondered, breaking into a run.

**Wondering what's going to happen? You'll just have to wait. And don't forget to make suggestions for Krelle and what she'll do. (And yes, glass _IS_ a liquid; look it up if you don't believe me)**


	4. Illusion

**9-4: Illusion**

**In honor of my younger sister's birthday, I've decided to post this chapter (though I probably should have done it a long time ago). School starts next Wednesday for me and I'm pretty bummed out. At least I have a cool roomie.**

(((-4-)))

Aelita bit her lip and glanced around. "I need to let them know that I'm here. But how?"

Dan paused beside a gift shop to catch his breath. "Well, if you don't have their phone numbers, I don't see how you're going to be able to."

The pink-haired girl sagged against the wall and dropped her head. "There's _got _to be a way…"

The song from the speakers inside the shop attracted her attention and she went still, an idea forming in her brain. The cat…it couldn't have been a coincidence. She needed something bigger than that. Much bigger. She cast about and her eyes settled on her companion's shirt. "What's that?" she asked, pointing.

"What? This?" he looked down at his shirt and grimaced. "I dunno. It's a weird dragon. I was forced to wear this thing because it was a present from my aunt. My cousins probably picked it out. Kinda freaky, if you ask me. Hey…what's with you, Aelita?"

The girl had closed her eyes, hands together, and began to sing. The blonde teenager stepped awkwardly away as her voice seemed to take on a sort of solidity and swell, growing and transforming into some strange being.

Then suddenly right above their heads, dark scales and feathers formed, stretching up to shape the wings and body of a hideous creature! Its head appeared and as it opened its throat to roar, people began screaming. The dragon's tail lashed, wings beating to rise high above the crowds of people. Aelita felt a smidgeon of satisfaction as she surveyed her work.

Dan himself was divided between Aelita and the creature. "Y-you did that?" She nodded, bracing herself for a fiery torrent of disgust and— "_Awesome! _Is it real?"

Aelita shook her head, surprised by his ready acceptance. At first she had tried to make it real, but the power had nearly snapped back and struck her like a broken rubber band. So she had settled on an illusion.

"I take it this is bound to attract at least one of your friends?"

"Hopefully." Perspiration was forming on her brow as she concentrated on keeping the dragon visible with only her mind. She'd never done it before this way. True, her lifepoints depleted when she used it on Lyoko, but never had she felt the effects so powerfully.

"How do you know it will?"

"They will. Believe me."

"Umm…what if it attracts the wrong kind of attention? Like from _her_."

The pink-haired girl only had enough time to turn around and notice Krelle before the water fountain she was standing next to exploded! Pieces of pipe and metal fragments bounced around them and had it not been for Dan, Aelita would have been skewered.

He grabbed and shoved her facedown on the cement, protecting her with his body. The Pawn's expression was cold as stone as she strode through the mob of panicking people whose fear was split between the freaky kid with glowing eyes and a creature that looked like it could swallow a city bus without chewing.

Dan forced himself to his knees and clapped a hand to the laceration on his shoulder, gritting his teeth in pain. "I'll take care of you, Aelita," he promised.

She felt rather than saw the dragon give a final roar and vanish. And then all her strength seemed to sap away and she fell limply to the pavement.

"Subject A acquired," Krelle reported in an unfeeling tone.

(V)

Ulrich groaned. Neither of his clones had seen anyone remotely resembling Aelita. He himself was perched high up on a statue, ignoring the stern glances from adults and catcalls from girls his own age who thought he was cute. But still there was no sign of either Aelita or Talia.

"This is impossible!" he grumped. He nearly fell off his roost as his cell phone rang. "Yumi? _Please _tell me you've found Aelita!"

(V)

Odd panted as he climbed the steps. "Are we there _yet?_"

"Gee whiz! It's just the third floor. You eat too much and don't exercise enough, you know that?"

"Oh yeah? _This_ from a guy who skips gym class all the time so he can spend time with a certain pink-haired—"

"Cut it out, Odd. I get your drift, okay?"

"Why can't we take the doggone elevator?"

"Because we don't know if she would get off on any of the lower floors, _all right!_"

"Well you don't have to be a grouch about it," the other kid muttered crossly. "She could have gone straight to the top and all the way back down by this time and we're working up a sweat for nothing."

Jeremy was just about to explode when his phone started ringing. Biting back his retort to Odd, he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Jeremy," Yumi was nearly shouting over the sound of screaming in the background on the other end of the phone. "I'm pretty sure it's Aelita. There's no other explanation for what I'm looking at. I'll find her and get to the factory. You guys meet me there. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

(V)

Krelle lifted her hand and the ground began to rumble as water below the surface collected at her command. "Termina—ugh!"

Janika plowed into Talia's body screeching a yowl, her body shifting and changing in slight feline ways as Bloodlust overwhelmed her senses. The earth blew up in a shower of water and hard cement as Krelle fought back. Both of them were pelted with debris as they tussled on the ground.

Aelita's friend drove the breath out of her enemy with a fist to the stomach and Krelle retaliated with savage hair-pulling. Claw-like hands raked her arms and throat, leaving behind lines of red.

The brawl lasted only a few more minutes until the girl with her long braid kicked the Pawn in the face with such force that Krelle rolled over, lights out.

Janika knelt over the unconscious girl, breathing hard as she tried to calm down. Someone touched her arm and she looked up to see the really cute blonde boy that had assisted Aelita standing there, concerned. One sleeve was soaked with blood, but the injury didn't seem that bad. "Are you okay?" he asked, anxiety coating his words.

Controlling the primal urge to attack, she accepted his offered hand with a nod. " I'm fine. Thanks for helping Aelita out. How is she?"

"She nearly fainted, but not completely. She's just lying there, moaning. Could you explain what's going on to me?"

She gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry. We'd be here all day if I did. Look, I have to get her out of here. That thing isn't easy to defeat, and I'm afraid of what might happen if we kill it. Talia might not have a body when we go back in ti—"

"Janika!" a snappish voice cut her off just in time. Yumi came running up, her face etched with worry. "Is that the Pawn? Looks like she cleaned this place up. Who are you?" she wondered, noticing Dan. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. C'mon! I told the others we found Aelita, now let's just get her to the factory."

"Uh, _how_ exactly? We can't just drag her onto the bus. They'll never let us take an unconscious girl across town."

Yumi slumped, thinking hard.

Dan shifted confidently beside them. "I think I might have the answer to your little problem, girls." They turned, prepared to tell him to get lost. Then he held up something very shiny and, at the moment, attractive. "Turns out that I'm a very proficient pick-pocket."

"Really?"

"Nope," he said, flashing the brown-haired girl a winning smile. "But I was holding onto my aunt's keys today because of circumstances which I am not at liberty to reveal to you."

"Did she lose her purse?" Janika speculated.

"Exactly. It's really a funny story. You see—"

"Later!" the Japanese girl snapped. "Let's get Aelita to the factory pronto, _then _you can tell us your life story. Deal?"

"I'll hold you to it, you know," he warned.

"Shush it. Let's get out of here before the Pawn wakes up."

Dan helped support Aelita in her semi-conscious state. The pink-haired girl moaned and murmured, hardly aware of her surroundings. When the men at the gate asked what was wrong, Yumi quickly told them her friend had been scared half out of her wits by the dragon and that seemed to satisfy them.

The boy with perfect sky blue eyes led them to a small European car that looked like a Twinkie with windows. He slowed up as they approached it, suddenly nervous. "Um…I neglected to tell you guys this before…but I can't drive."

They stared at him in incredulity. "Then why on earth are we going with _you?_" Yumi exploded.

"Hey, it's okay, Yumi!" Janika intervened. She placed herself squarely between them so that her friend couldn't claw his eyes out. "I used to drive a four-wheeler back home. I'm sure the mechanics are pretty much the same for a car."

Little did she know how wrong she really was.

**If any of you have ever driven a four-wheeler, you know what I'm talking about. The one I drove had gears you shifted w/ your feet and the accelerator was triggered w/ your hands. So you can take a wild guess about what's going to happen. New poll! What would you do if a hot dog you were about to eat jumped up and started singing? (disclaimer: I do not speak from personal experience)**


	5. Driving Lessons

**9-5: Driving Lessons**

**The comments on singing hotdogs were ridiculous and I appreciate the participators. Also, I love you all! Now read and _review_.**

**(((-5-)))**

Janika could hardly reach the pedals and had had to tie a piece of wood to the bottom of her shoe with the shoelaces to make it work. Starting the car had been easy, but everything else was almost enough to make the other occupants in the vehicle a tad bit jumpy.

"Those are the windshield wipers!" Yumi screeched. Her white knuckles gripped the sides of the passenger seat as she sat bracing herself against it, rigid as a post.

"Relax. It was just a mistake. The blinkers have to be around here somewhere. How do you use hand-signals? Erm…but first which way, Dan? Left or right?"

She glanced back and saw a Paris map filling the backseat with a tuft of his pale blonde hair sticking up behind it. "I'm working on it. This isn't very easy, you know. Hey, don't look at me! Turn around!"

"I need to know now! The light's green already and people are honking!"

"Left!" She started turning. "You're _other_ left!" both he and Yumi shouted in panic.

"I knew that!" She swerved and nearly clipped an oncoming car. Yumi screamed and Dan shouted while Janika hit the gas and sped past, gaining speed.

"Are you _trying _to kill us all?" the Japanese girl wondered frantically.

She shrugged evasively as she avoided a pedestrian who had to make a flying leap to get out of her way. "Stop overreacting, you guys. You should endeavor not to let your blood pressure become too high. Besides, all this shouting is getting on my nerves."

Yumi and Dan stopped freaking out long enough to give Janika a look that could have killed her if she had met it. As it was, she eluded death by the glaring daggers of her companions because she was watching the road.

Not that she could see much of the road. Her eyes hardly cleared the dashboard so that to other drivers it looked like the car was driving itself. At least, that's the way it looked to the cop at the street corner.

"Uh…I've got a vehicle driving itself haphazardly down Cherub Avenue," the policeman spoke into his radio.

"Can you describe the vehicle?" the woman at the other end asked.

"It's a yellow Twinkie."

Janika jerked the wheel right to get out of the wrong lane of traffic and sheepishly apologized to the other passengers. "Sorry about that. I think the block is slipping off my foot. It's getting harder to touch the pedals."

Yumi's face looked a little green as she muttered weakly, "Are we there yet?"

Dan reached up and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Almost. We have about three minutes left on this road and then we'll be taking a right on Crescent—holy cow! There's a _huge_ line of cop cars behind us!"

That was news to Janika. "What? Where?"

"Aren't you using the mirrors!"

"Well, how am I supposed to adjust them? I can't even reach the rear-view mirror and I'm not used to looking at the side-mirrors. Gee whiz! Can't you just apply a little bit of self control and let me drive?"

"Shut up, Janika!" Yumi snarled. "You're in no position to talk! We're going to get pulled over and then get arrested and then go to jail and Aelita will never make it to the factory and then—"

"We'll just have to take a little detour, people. Hold onto your sneakers," she warned before making a sharp U-turn that spun the car about on two wheels **(A/N: oh, that's classic in car chases!).** Only a miracle kept them from tipping as they skidded on the pavement.

The flashing police cars followed, but the opposite lane of traffic had been disturbed already and a jam was forming quite readily. Dan found a nice alternative route that got them back on schedule while the police tried desperately to figure out where they had gone.

"We're only a few streets from your factory," the blonde kid said with relief. "And I think Aelita's coming around. That U-turn must have shaken her out of her daze. Umm…Janika? You can start slowing down about now," he advised, noting that the scenery was going by _very_ rapidly.

"I have a little problem here," she said from the front seat. "The block fell off and I can't reach the pedals."

Yumi unfastened her seatbelt and dove to the floor, sifting among the empty soda cans and hamburger wrappers littered about to find the block. "I don't see it!"

"Just push the brake!" Dan clamored behind her.

"Which one is the brake?"

"I think it's the right," Janika told her.

"The left!" Dan corrected.

Yumi tried to push down on it and the car began to slow, but she realized too late that the block had fallen underneath the pedal and refused to budge, also preventing them from stopping completely. "It's stuck!" she screamed.

"This might help," the driver said aloud as she shifted into first. The car jerked and the engine whined as they cruised along at 30 miles an hour in the lowest gear. "At least it's working."

"There's the factory!" Yumi cried out as she sat back up. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, since we can't completely stop, I guess I'll just have to try going into the river. Shall we try?"

"What do you mean _'shall we'?_" Dan yelled in dismay at her calm speech. "We have no choice, do we?"

"True," Janika agreed. "One crash landing coming up."

(V)

Jeremy paced, one eye twitching in anxiety. "They should have been here an hour ago!"

Ulrich grabbed his friend's shoulder and pointed across the bridge to where a car resembling a Twinkie was roaring toward the fence. They watched in horror as it crashed through the frail barrier and fell straight down the sharp incline to hurtle into the river!

It sat there in the shallow water and the doors slowly creaked open. They saw their friends get out, including a stranger who had Aelita thrown over his shoulder.

"Who is that?" the computer genius asked.

"I dunno, but his ride is junked now," Odd said with a chuckle. "Looks like my girlfriend was driving. Yeah, _go Janika!_" he called. She threw him the Peace Sign.

Jeremy stared at them as they climbed back up the other side. The stranger put his burden down as they got to the top and she lay there, unmoving. "Wait a second… Something's wrong with Aelita!"

He raced across the bridge and shoved past the unfamiliar kid to reach his beloved A.I. who was just beginning to regain awareness. Before he could ask about her health, Yumi stumbled forward and seized the collar of his shirt, lifting him up onto his tippy-toes and growling, "Next time we split up, _you're_ paired with Janika. _Got it, **Shorty!**_"

"Okay!" he squeaked in a falsetto voice.

Odd and Ulrich came across and pulled their unfortunate friend free of Yumi's iron claws. "Did Janika go psycho on you guys?" the punk wondered as he gave his girl's hand a reassuring squeeze.

The Japanese teenager glared at him. "As a matter of fact, no. We were all freaking out while she calmly took us on a _Joyride of Terror!_"

Dan discreetly shifted on his feet behind them, hands in his pockets, not really sure what to do. His aunt's car was toast and he was dead unless he could come up with some really convincing story. He looked up and saw the tranquil girl with her long dark braid break away from the group and stare at him with an expression he couldn't put a name to.

She tossed over the keys and he caught them instinctively. "Your car needs gas."

Dan smirked despite himself. "And maybe just a little tune-up."

(V)

X.A.N.A. seethed silently. The last command hadn't worked. The Warrior had interfered and without a direct order to kill her off, Krelle had resorted to less effective measures that resulted in her defeat.

Once again he had overestimated his creation and that small margin of error had cost him victory. But these small battles meant nothing if he could still win the war. A sly smile crept across his insubstantial features. Not all was lost.

He reached out with his influence and forced Krelle awake. The Pawn sat up straight, hearing her master's authoritative voice. _"Find them. They are here."_

"Yes, Master," she said aloud as visions flashed through her mind. She knew where to go, where they were, and she would locate them.

Looking around, she realized she was in a small building. Several male humans were standing there staring at her with anger in their eyes. One attempted to communicate saying, "How did you make that lizard appear?"

"Why did you tear up our zoo?"

"No, you idiots. Let me talk to her." The third man stepped closer and pulled her to her feet. "What kind of weapon did you use?"

Krelle's face was completely devoid of all emotion as she replied with glowing eyes, "I am the weapon."

There was not even a warning rumble. The floor suddenly collapsed as tons upon tons of water surged upward, tearing apart brick, stone, and concrete to reach the one calling it. The explosion blew the three men backward and engulfed the Pawn in its raging current. The water changed shape and transformed into a whirlpool.

When the men finally stood up again, there was a gaping hole in the floor and their prisoner was gone. They stared at each other in shock and amazement. "I don't know about you guys," one gulped, "but I'd say we just witnessed one of the Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

One threw a bucket that hit the guy upside the head.

**This chapter's done, but now you readers have to answer this _extremely _important question: what would you do if you met Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails in a bar?**


	6. Best Laid Plans

**9-6: The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and…Krabs**

**Sorry it's taken so long to get this one out. I hate school and I was having a little trouble w/ writer's block. But I got a superb haircut and felt so good that I totally rewrote what I had already and this is what I came up w/. You do NOT want to read what I had before. It wasn't pretty.**

**(((-6-)))**

Krelle's eyes emanated an unearthly light as she was carried along tunnels beneath the city. Foundations and barriers all around her cracked from the force of her power. She carried a tsunami at her back and was headed toward the enemies to wipe them out once and for all. The Master's commands were unbending and firm, and despite her repeated failures, she would destroy them this time.

(V)

On the other side of town, the gang was arguing over Dan. Jeremy seemed to be the one most set against it. "No, no, _no!_ We are not going to let him get in our way and that's final!"

Janika's lip curled in a sneer and a feral light gleamed maddeningly in her eyes. "He just junked his aunt's car to help Aelita—who was injured, by the way!—get here and you think he doesn't deserve any thanks, is that it?"

"That's not what I said and you know it!" the blonde kid retorted sounding confident, but he tugged at the collar of his sweater as if realizing he was a little hot.

"We are going to let him come inside," she said very calmly, "first of all because I said so, and secondly because he's not going to remember once everything's said and done. I'm surprised at you, Jeremy. You're just not thinking fourth-dimensionally," she mimicked. The computer genius' twitch came back as he counted to ten to relax.

Now of course Dan was looking at everyone as if they were crazy, but since everything Janika was saying seemed to be getting him into the loop (which is where he wanted to be), he wasn't going to complain. This was _way _more fun than hanging out with his cousins who would gawk at wild animals that pooped in public.

"Guys, I promise I won't be any trouble. But if you could help me come up with a good excuse for my aunt about her car, it would really help."

Ulrich put his hand on the nervous blonde's shoulder. "Don't worry. If everything works out, you won't need to. Believe me, it'll be taken care of."

"Yeah, Einstein," Odd agreed. "Just let the guy come inside. It's not like he'll do anything wrong if you keep an eye on him."

Aelita was still breathing hard from the overexertion she put herself through earlier with the illusion but she raised her head and said with a touch of anxiety, "Time is of the essence. We have to get inside and locate Talia. Jeremy, have you been able to contact her?"

The boy helped her up and the whole gang began crossing the bridge while he answered. "No…well, sort of. I tried to contact her earlier when we got here, but she's distracted or something. I keep getting all these overwhelming _feelings_ but no solid thoughts and she doesn't reply to mine. It's really kind of disconcerting, if you know what I mean."

"Keep trying, Jeremy. I know you'll be able to get through to her. All my strength is gone. I should be fine once I get to Lyoko, though."

Jeremy dragged Dan off the elevator at the first stop and sent the others down to the scanners. His monitor picked up Talia's bulk immediately in the Mountain Region. He transferred Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich first, then the two other girls.

Dan watched with fascination, trying to figure out whether he was dealing with some extra-terrestrial beings or just a bunch of psychopaths who happened to have some really cool stuff. Either way, this was too good to pass up. He just couldn't figure out exactly where this 'Lyoko' that Janika and the others had gone was.

(V)

Janika and Odd roved ahead of their friends, searching for the girl trapped in the body of a humongous black Krab among the misty peaks.

"She's just ahead of you guys. I still can't get through to her. Don't show yourselves until I make contact or she's liable to blow you guys to smithereens."

Janika was still stinging from their little exchange earlier and smirked as an idea struck her. "Hey Jeremy, you said that you could feel her emotions, right?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"What if _you_ felt a really strong emotion? Think she might notice?"

"You know, you just might have something there, Janika. But I really don't know how I can force myself to have a really strong emotion."

The dark-haired girl smiled. "Looks like Dan just might come in useful after all. Tell him to hit you."

"_**What?**"_

"Do you want to contact Talia or not?"

"Well, yeah but—"

"Then do it! You know you'll never get her attention otherwise. You are one of the most monotone guys I've ever met…unless you're around Aelita, and since she's here on Lyoko and you're not, that option's out."

Jeremy slowly answered. "All right…but just know that I'm never going to forgive you for this. I bruise easily."

"Just think fourth-dimensionally, Jer."

(V)

Talia slid down the mountainside as if she was wearing skis. She'd never felt so huge and powerful before! Maybe she was a lab-rat for a secret experiment or something really cool. Too bad Aelita wasn't here. That funny kid would enjoy something neat like this.

She was fast approaching a very steep drop-off that vanished into cloudy nothingness. As the huge black Krab skated toward it, she suddenly pushed off with a spring that made her soar as if she had wings! She crossed a gap and landed on another strip of land, whooping in her mind with euphoria.

But abruptly she felt a searing flash of pain assail her senses. If she'd had hands they would have clapped to her face…if she'd had a face. Was her nose broken? **_Ouch!_** Not again! Who was pummeling her to death?

"Stop it!" she cried out, confusion and puzzlement overwhelming her. "Who is doing that?"

"_Cut it out!"_ someone said faintly inside her head. _"Dan, I said you can stop now! She feels it!"_

That voice…whose was it? "Jeremy? Is that you?"

"_Yes, Tal—ow! **Knock it off!**" _her acquaintance from school shouted at someone. He bantered with the person beating the tar out of him for another moment before returning his attention back to her. _"Look, Talia, we need your help. Can we count on you?"_

"I guess so. What's going on?"

"_It's complicated. Just trust me: you're the only one who can help us defeat the Bad Guy."_

"Us?"

"_I'm still here in reality, but Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, Janika, and Aelita are in that place with you."_

"Oh, awesome! Where are they?"

"_Turn around and follow the path you're on and you'll find them. They're going straight toward you. Oh, and Talia? Please don't try to hurt them with your lasers."_

"I have lasers? Cool!" She began to walk along the narrow pathway toward one of the larger mountains, looking for Aelita and her friends. What were they supposed to look like, anyway?

She noticed some strange creatures just ahead. "Weird. Is that them?"

"_Talia, get back!" _Jeremy yelled in her head. _"Those Krabs are enemies!"_

Before she could do anything, the four reddish creatures that looked like her, only smaller, opened fire. Their lasers missed as she ducked and veered sharply, barely keeping her precarious footing on the thin land bridge.

As she watched, four small humanoid figures flew out from behind some rocks and attacked the machines. One boy with a sword sliced at the legs of the hindmost 'Krab', toppling it over. He finished it off with a stab to its bull's-eye and then ran to assist the black-haired girl as she attacked a second with a glowing object like a boomerang. The last two were occupied with another off to one side.

"What's going on?" Talia mused. She didn't want to get left out of all the fun. "Let me see if these 'lasers' work at all."

Experimentally, she focused on attacking that Krab still coming straight toward her. Something 'clicked' into place and a beam of light fired from her 'eye'. The enemy saw the ray of destructive light and tried to scuttle backward, but wasn't quick enough to avoid it.

Talia watched in amazement as the Krab exploded, pieces of it flying in all directions. Some of the pieces lodged in its buddy and took it out of commission as well. The last machine was taken down by an arrow from the small figure in purple as the girl with a long braid distracted it, but Talia sauntered cockily up to them. "Not bad, huh?"

"_They can't hear you, Talia," _Jeremy explained. _"If you want to say anything, I can relay a message to them for you."_

"Oh well, tell them that I _rock!_ They'd all be dogfood if I wasn't here. Hey, is that Aelita? What's with the funky clothes? She looks like a ninja or something."

(V)

"Jeremy, where's the activated Tower? There isn't anything around here except mountains," Odd complained. "And if it doesn't show up on the scopes and there aren't any pulsations, how are we supposed to locate it?"

Aelita watched the humongous black Krab come up to them. Talia towered high over the group of 'heroes'. "Jeremy, ask her where she was when she appeared here. She should be able to lead us back there."

They waited a few seconds while the computer's operator communicated with her. Finally he said, "She knows the general direction and she said she can take you guys there in a few minutes."

"Okay!" Odd grinned. "Let's go for a ride!"

Yumi looked heavenward as she muttered, "Just as long as Janika doesn't drive."

"Hey, I got you there in one piece, didn't I?"

"Girls," Ulrich stepped between them. "Just get on board."

Talia knelt down as well as she could and the Warriors flipped onto her back with just a little hesitation. As soon as she started moving, though, Yumi realized that maybe Janika wasn't such a bad driver after all.

She managed to hold on somehow and shut her eyes tightly to keep from getting sick as the giant Krab leaped over gullies of void and traveled straight up inclines at a speed that made her heart feel like it was in her shoes, then when she reached the other side and started down, it felt like it was in her mouth.

Ulrich and Aelita both lay beside her, trying to comfort the moaning geisha, but the two catlike Warriors were standing as if riding a skateboard and hollering with the surge of adrenaline in their veins.

"Nothin' beats this!" the blonde boy smirked at his friend enjoying the ride with him. She winked and shifted her weight as they reached the base of the second mountain and went flying. "We're covering a lot of distance too. That would be really cool if we had vehicles or something here on Lyoko so we could do this _all_ the time."

"Wishful thinking," she said giving him a pat on the back. "I really doubt anything like that would ever happen."

(V)

X.A.N.A. realized something was wrong. His Pawn had taken her orders to heart and was headed toward the factory with every intent to demolish the Warriors as well as everything inside the walls…including Lyoko where he was trapped!

He reached out once more to touch her mechanical mind and alter her thinking. Krelle obeyed at once, throwing the tidal wave behind her to keep it from completely decimating the precious factory and its lab where X.A.N.A. was still imprisoned. The new rules were much more specific in her line of duty and how to carry it out.

Traveling along the base of the river at a rapid rate, she came within sight of the island with its building. Slowing to a stop, Krelle reached out with both hands to _become_ the water, to make it an extension of herself.

Her arms paled as they faded into the liquid rushing all about her. They grew, lengthening incredibly until they were stretched enough to reach inside the factory without her leaving the safety of her element.

The watery arms crashed through glass and stone, tearing into the walls and floor, trying to find a way into the lower rooms. Though sightless, the hands knew where to go and made their way through the boiler room and straight into the lab where Dan was pestering Jeremy.

They turned around suddenly, letting out exclamations of alarm.

Krelle could feel the glow the Warrior gave off. He could remember events that passed and were undone. The other could not. That one was useless, so she ignored him, but the former she seized in her watery grasp, dragging him away from the Master's prison.

He was the one she had been ordered to destroy along with the A.I. in the very beginning. Her orders had changed, but she had found him at last!

Jeremy cried out as he was carried away…

(V)

Dan shook as he watched the kid who was supposed to be making sure he didn't do anything wrong get hauled away by something out of the Twilight Zone or Star Trek or whatever. This wasn't a game anymore.

"Jeremy! Jeremy!" that pink-haired girl called from the computer screen. "What happened? Where did you go?"

Dan stumbled over to the chair on wobbly legs. What if Jeremy had just been _killed_ by that thing? He saw Aelita looking at him with confusion.

"What are you doing there? What happened to Jeremy?"

"I…I don't know. He just…something came out of nowhere and carried him away. It was like huge hands made of water or something."

The girl's hand went to her mouth as she gasped, pain evident in her eyes. "Oh no! Krelle must have recovered and come after us. X.A.N.A. probably gave her orders not to touch Lyoko, so that's why she only used a partial attack. We've lost our only communicator with Talia. Dan, you have to take Jeremy's place at the computer so that we can fix this as soon as possible! He'll be all right if I can just get to the tower in time."

"Whoa whoa whoa! I think I've done _more_ than enough already and you want me to do what?"

"_Please_, Dan! You're our only hope!"

**Sorry to leave off w/ a little Star Wars line, but you know how it is when you pass your chapter deadline about 10 times. And yes, I did make a jab at the new season about the vehicles. Now to lighten the mood: What would you do if you met a beer-swilling cat driving a taxi?**


	7. Pause in Midstride

**9-7: A Pause in Mid-Stride**

**Once again, I apologize for the lack of writing on my part, but the hairy Writer's Block demons wouldn't let me do anything until I talked with my moose, but he was of no help so I had to upgrade to a Muse. (bats eyes at Dan)  
**

**(((-7-)))**

Jeremy couldn't breathe for the longest time, but at last his captor released him. He found himself on hands and knees, coughing and sputtering from the water he had tried to breathe. He looked up and saw Krelle, hair swirling, clothes waving, eyes glowing.

"You are fortunate my Master needs you to complete his plan. The Warriors are blind now and you will be useful to him." He could clearly tell that she was eager to squash him, though.

"_Jeremy, what's happening? The guys are saying you just vanished or something. Can you hear me?"_

Talia! He could still speak with her! _"Don't worry,"_ he projected his thoughts to her._ "I just can't talk to my friends. Tell me what's going on where you are."_

"_Oh sure!"_

"But…" Krelle turned back to him with an evil glint in her eyes, "my Master did not say I could not harm you."

Water makes up more than seventy percent of the human body. Krelle sensed this and began to leech it off of him like a vampire…

(V)

Dan's hands shook as he put the earphone on. How was he supposed to do this? His features furrowed into lines of worry and fear. He was not overly proficient at computers and this was no Macintosh. There were three different keyboards and screens, and absolutely no directions.

"Okay, what does the hologram say, Dan?" Aelita's voice came through sounding much different on the earphone.

"Uh…there's a really big red thingy with four green triangle-thingies and a yellow thingy on top of it. I think the big red thingy is something bad." At least he hoped so.

Silence was the only thing that came over the connection for about ten seconds. Dan was just beginning to get a bit worried when Odd spoke up saying, "Dan…unless you've been totally out of it for the past five minutes, we have been riding Talia through the mountains before Einstein was abducted."

"Hey, look! This is one of the weirdest games I've ever heard of and I don't know where you guys are or what that place looks like, but I'm doing my best, _all right?_ Now do you want my help or not?"

"We'll accept all the help we can get," Janika's voice came over. "Right, _Odd?_"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Dan ran a hand through his blonde hair and tried to calm down. Beeping suddenly came from the computer, startling him. He leaned forward to look at the hologram. "Uh, there are seven smaller red thingies coming straight toward you from every direction! I'm pretty sure they're the bad guys. This tab says they're all…Krabs?"

(V)

Seven rusty red Krabs closed in, sealing off all exits. Talia, mute through she was, could only be hyping up for a battle. Hoping she could understand him, Ulrich leaped down beside her, sword drawn.

"Aelita, take cover over there behind those boulders. Talia, you see if you can take on those two monsters. I'll deal with the one over there and the others will take care of the rest. Got it?"

Her slight dip and sudden focus on the two Krabs he pointed out satisfied him enough to confirm that she could hear and understand them. Yumi was glad enough to be off her black shell, anyway, and the two feline warriors flipped to the solid ground, faces radiant with excitement.

Talia's lasers blew up part of the land bridge as well as the two closely spaced Krabs. She turned around and decided to help out her friends. It looked like they were having a hard time anyway. She fired up her larger beam and got ready to fire.

Ulrich was having no trouble at all after he used Triplicate. His clones distracted the Krab long enough for him to leap on top and strike the final blow, then after it exploded he joined Yumi as she dodged the lasers of two monsters.

Odd fired his laser arrows at the quick robot he was handling, easily flipping out of the way when it fired angrily at him. Somersaulting off a projecting rock, he did a double back-flip and fired four arrows in quick succession, all striking home and decimating his enemy.

Janika was having a harder time, though. She was shot once in the chest as soon as she zeroed in on it and got thrown to the ground. The Krab surged forward, firing as it came. She barely evaded the lasers as she closed in on it, finally latching onto a leg and holding on for dear life. Confused, the red robot shook its leg in an attempt to dislodge her, but she clung to it stubbornly, inching her way toward the top of its shell.

The dark-haired girl was almost there, a ninja star ready in her hand, when a humongous beam of light flew toward her! Only her catlike instincts saved her from being devirtualized by Talia's laser as she leapt clear of her opponent. The Krab was not so lucky.

She rolled to a stop beside the edge of the land bridge. "What was _that _all about?" she demanded angrily. The black Krab appeared to shrug (though Janika was never completely sure how she did it). With a grunt she addressed Dan. "Are there any more Krabs?"

"Nope, only you guys and the big red thingy."

"Okay, thanks. Now let's get back on Talia and keep on trucking!" Odd called in a cheerful tone.

(V)

Dan wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was starting to get the hang of this. All he had to do was tell the guys what he saw on the screen and report on their Lifepoints. It wouldn't be so unnerving if all those warning signs and windows would quit popping up begging for him to fix one thing or another.

For some reason this game wasn't so fun anymore (not that it was ever really _fun_). Maybe it was the screams and cries of his new friends, or maybe the sounds of laser-fire and explosions. Either way, he knew there was something really big going on with these guys and he had to do his best to help out.

Just no fiddling with the keys. Who _knows _what might happen if he did something like that.

(V)

X.A.N.A.'s thoughts turned toward reality as he realized that the Warriors were not blind on Lyoko. Someone was indeed at the console, and not adept at the job, apparently. But he could influence this human easily, though direct attacks were impossible.

His invisible arm reached out and nudged Dan, forcing his hand. To him, it felt like someone pushed him forward and he put his hand down on the keyboard to avoid crashing into the screens.

A window popped up as he recovered, flashing a red exclamation mark. An image of Aelita's digital body appeared and it began to beep warnings at him. "Well, _that's_ definitely not good," he surmised.

(V)

Aelita was just standing up when suddenly a strange look flashed across her face and she froze. She just stood there, immobile.

"C'mon, Aelita. Quit playing around," Janika chastised.

Yumi looked back. "No, something's wrong with her. Aelita? Can you see us?"

No response.

"Dan," Ulrich said, "is something wrong with Aelita?"

The computer's temporary operator sounded nervous. "I don't know what happened! I was sitting here just looking at the screen and something _pushed_ me! I swear I never would have touched the keyboard otherwise!"

"What is wrong with her?" the samurai warrior asked tersely.

"I don't know. This weird program is running. It says something about an individual shut-down system or whatever. I think I need a password or something to unlock the rest of the program, but I'm pretty sure she's out of commission for now."

"This is crazy!" Yumi cried as she heard him say that. "We've got to get you to un-freeze Aelita otherwise we won't be able to shut down the Tower or fix this mess!"

Janika looked over at her friends, biting her lip. "There might be a way…" Without giving it anymore thought, she raced over to Ulrich and grabbed his sword, shoving it into her own stomach!

Odd grabbed for her, but she vanished before his eyes, leaving only Ulrich's sword behind. "_What_ did she do that for?" he protested.

The scanners opened and Janika gripped the sides with her hands, breathing hard. It felt like she had just rammed a poker into her middle. Maybe next time she'd try something different.

The dark-haired girl got into the elevator and made her way to the lab floor, stumbling out as the doors opened. She saw Dan sitting at the computer, head in his hands. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, she turned the chair around and coaxed him to his feet.

"I'll take over from here, Dan," she smiled at him weakly.

He relinquished the seat with a grateful sigh, saying, "It's all yours."

"Let's see how you immobilized Aelita…" Her fingers skimmed over the keys easily. "It's been a while since Jeremy let me touch his precious computer, but I can see what went wrong. Whatever you punched was a direct link to Aelita's cerebral connection from this console. There is one chance in about four million thatyou could have done that on your own, so I suspect someone _else _is to blame. But you didn't do too badly for your first time."

"**_First time?_** You mean there's going to be a second?" Dan looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Relax! It was supposed to be a compliment. All I have to do is apply the counter-code—or password, as you put it—and Aelita should be all right. But we've wasted valuable time trying to fix this and that could mean the difference between success and failure here."

Dan rubbed his chin as he watched her handle the controls. "Are you a hacker?"

She smirked at him. "However did you guess?" She was too busy repairing Aelita to notice the Krabs on the hologram until it was too late.

(V)

They were climbing steadily and reached the peak of the next mountain. Ulrich and Odd held onto Aelita, still groggy, to keep her from sliding off Talia's black shell.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a barrage of lasers started pounding the mountainous terrain around them! Talia braced herself and turned toward the collection of boulders parallel to them on another mountain where five new Krabs were stationed.

"Aelita, there's the Tower!" Yumi cried, pointing. The red-rimmed Tower glowed evilly as a beacon for them. "Talia, take us straight there. Those Krabs are too far away for us to retaliate."

Clearly reluctant to pass up the challenge, the black Krab almost sullenly headed toward the activated Tower. She stopped as they reached the path that led to it and lowered herself so that the passengers could get off. Aelita took off immediately, her friends guarding her rear as the Krabs continued to shoot lasers at them.

Talia darted toward them, firing her own damaging lasers as she went. But before she got very far, a lucky shot struck her in the joint of one leg. The enormous black Krab was traveling along the slanted mountain slope and collapsed suddenly as her leg refused to work.

The geisha warrior turned around as she heard a crash from behind. Turning around quickly, she saw Talia tumbling down the mountain toward the mist over the digital sea!

**And that's that. You'll just have to wait until next time to find out what happens. Just one last chapter left to go and this episode will _finally_ be over. For another poll: what would you do if someone you didn't know told you that you were a "witch" and that everything you posted online was "freakin" stupid? Or you could tell me what you would do in response to discovering little green aliens eating your homework. Either one or both will do.**


	8. Memorabilia

**9-8: Memorabilia**

**This must be one of my shortest chapters _ever_, but there's nothing I could really add to it w/out seeming overzealous. Just end it quick like this.**

**(((-8-)))**

The Krab went coasting downhill, gathering speed. Yumi knew if Talia hit the Digital Sea she was done for. When they went back in time there would be no Talia to inhabit her own body!

Her scream of terror attracted Aelita's attention and the A.I. turned around. She saw Talia sliding toward oblivion on her back, three legs waving crazily in the air and one dragging along as she dropped. She fell to her knees, raising her hands together in a prayer-like gesture.

As she sang, her Synthezation warped the mountainside, shifting it. Suddenly protrusions of rock exploded out, catching the monstrous black Krab before she could slide any farther toward her doom. She came to a jerking halt, still upside-down but seemingly all right.

"Shoot!" Janika's voice came over as a very feline growl. "X.A.N.A. just virtualized four Krabs between Aelita and the Tower! Watch it!"

"Aelita, look out!" Odd cried out as he launched a few laser arrows. They came so close to her that one nearly grazed her cheek. The Krabs avoided them, though, and she dropped to the ground to avoid their attacks as they advanced on her.

Ulrich sped past her, using his super-speed to the greatest advantage to dispatch his enemies. He absorbed the laser of the foremost Krab with his sword, leaping on top and striking the symbol on its shell, vaulting from that one to the next, both of them detonating in rapid succession.

The third came after Odd as he challenged it with a barrage of laser arrows. Angrily, it fired several quick blasts that he avoided easily enough, landing on his knees. Tail swinging side to side almost cockily, he aimed a sure hit at the Krab, firing just as the one he hadn't been watching fired at _him_. He was devirtualized in seconds, but his kamikaze arrow vanquished the one he had been facing.

Yumi interposed herself between the pink-haired girl where she knelt helplessly on the mountain path. She blocked the first and second shots, but not the last that threw her back off the edge of the platform, devirtualizing her before she fell far.

Aelita hid her face, whimpering as it moved forward, but then reared suddenly as _someone_ landed on top of it. With a shout, Ulrich drove his sword deep into its inner workings, jamming the machine's gears. He leaped clear of the blast and sheathed his weapon.

"Better get in there, Aelita," the teenage samurai said. "Who knows what Krelle could be doing to Jeremy by now. Hurry up!"

Throwing a grateful smile his way, she dashed toward the red-rimmed spire just ahead.

(V)

Dan looked at Janika as she almost collapsed from sudden relief. "She made it to the Tower! Everything will be fine."

"Oh really? And what about that freaky girl's little explosions at the zoo? Not to mention the fact that she just kidnapped one of your friends. _That's_ fine?" he asked incredulously.

The screen flashed as Aelita deactivated the Tower and the girl at the console smiled at him comfortingly. "It will be, believe me. Too bad you won't remember any of this. You were really a good sport about the whole thing."

She finished punching in the coordinates for the return trip and hit Enter when Dan grabbed her unexpectedly, turning Janika around. The machine whirred, powering up to send them back in time as she stared into his pure blue eyes. Time seemed to freeze as he spoke.

"This has all ceased to amaze me. Maybe I won't remember, but do me a favor: don't forget me." Abruptly he pulled her close, pressing his lips against hers in a deep kiss. Surprised, she didn't say anything, only closing her eyes.

(V)

When she opened them again, the grotesque mask of an African idol in the museum was glaring at her. She gazed vacantly at it, her mind racing a mile a minute. Odd dragged her over to the gang as they gathered to talk quietly with each other. Jeremy appeared very ticked off about something.

"Do you guys have _any _idea what was happening to me while you were taking your sweet time on Lyoko? I was being squeezed like a lemon!" he blustered.

Aelita patted him on the back to calm him down and luckily it seemed to be working. Talia came towards them and he flinched, but was otherwise brave about his traumatic experience.

Yumi and Ulrich wandered away from the others, intent on spending more time with each other without any spectators. And as they left, Odd turned to speak with Janika…only she wasn't there.

(V)

Janika wandered through the zoo, looking into pens and cages at the assortment of Earth's more exotic animals. But the dark-haired girl ignored the wild beasts. She was searching for something, or rather **_someone_**. Finally she caught sight of him, recognizing Dan by the hideous dragon on his shirt.

She wanted to ask him why he'd kissed her, but she knew it was impossible since he wouldn't even know anything about it. Knotting her braid nervously around her wrist, Janika gathered enough courage to go over, just to be close one last time.

She shuffled over to the tiger pen near Dan, his aunt, and what had to be his younger cousins (or else they were a pack of uncaged wild animals). He was rubbing his temples as Janika bent over the edge of the large pen beside him, pretending not to be watching him. As his weary eyes slid over her, they snapped back again,eyebrows creasing.

"Have we met? I'm getting the weirdest feeling of déjà vu."

She smiled up at Dan and shrugged, disguising her surprise. "You never know. Been saving the world lately?"

He laughed aloud at that. "I recycled some cans yesterday. Does that count?"

She couldn't help laughing with him, but then sobered suddenly. "Hey, do me a favor: don't forget me." The dark-haired girl turned on her heel to leave, but he caught her in a soft grip.

"That would be easier if I knew your name."

"Janika. Goodbye Dan."

She melted into a large noisy crowd before he could demand how she knew his name. Maybe he wouldn't remember everything, but he had recognized her, and now she was sure that he would never forget her…because she would never forget Dan's kiss.

**(sigh) Don't you just love those happy endings. Or bittersweet. Or whatever. Just forget me and my pathetic romantic sensibilities. I'm pitiful, I know. One more possessing story to go. Guess who! No poll this time, but don't forget to review. I'll sue anyone who doesn't (except for that really annoying brat who keeps cussing me out for some sorry reason; you can rot)**


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